Open a copy of the Information Please Almanac and turn to the chapter on famous people. 4000 names and you won't know hardly any. But what about names everyone knows? Pillsbury, Kraft, Maytag, Hertz, Kellogg, Gerber. Nowhere to be found. How many names are more famous than Howard Johnson? Milton Bradley? Oscar Mayer? But who were these folks? Let’s find out now.

February 12, 2007

Tiffany's

And the man behind the brand is...Charles Tiffany

In 1837, at the height of America's first great Depression, Charles Tiffany and John Young opened a fancy goods store in lower Manhattan with $1000 borrowed from Tiffany's father. Tiffany had first operated a store ten years earlier when he ran a country store for his father, a wealthy mill owner. Now he put his retailing ideas to work in a simple wood-and-brick structure opposite City Hall.

The first week's profits totalled 33¢. But Tiffany & Young had correctly gauged the popularity of imported Chinese goods and their business flourished. The fancy goods business expanded through 1838. On New Year's Day 1839 robbers invaded the emporium and carted away everything transportable, over $4000 of goods. Fortunately the partners had taken all the cash home with them for the holiday, enough to restock. Quickly they were growing again, adding costume jewelry for sale for the first time. Tiffany would later recall the popular baubles as cheap, garish, in poor taste and crudely made. But real gems of any sort were rare in the United States at the time.

Tiffany's instituted a firm price policy. The price on the tag was the price to be paid - no haggling as was the custom of the day. It was a policy Tiffany's would later adhere to even with $100,000 necklaces.

In 1845 Tiffany & Young discontinued paste jewelry and began featuring gold jewelry. In 1847 Swiss jeweled watches were added to the line and a year later Tiffany started a gold-smithing shop, making the first company-designed jewelry. He brought out the first Tiffany Blue Book catalog, adopting the famous "Tiffany blue" packaging.

Charles Tiffany was a master of publicity, teaming with neighbor P.T. Barnum on several occasions. Tiffany's crafted a tiny silver horse and carriage for the wedding of Barnum's celebrated midgets, General Tom Thumb and his bride Lavinia.

The New York press dubbed Tiffany the "King of Diamonds" when he displayed the French crown jewels, although the gems were actually purchased by his partner Young. From that day to this Tiffany's has been regarded as America's greatest jeweler. In 1853 Charles Tiffany bought full control of the business and moved the Tiffany & Co. store uptown.

Prior to the Civil War the United States had no standing army. Tiffany prepared for the hostilities by submitting the first list of equipment usedby the French army to the quartermaster general. Thereafter his firm sold gold epaulets, cap ornaments, navy lace and other military accouterments. Mrs. Lincoln, who was coldly received by Washington society, consoled herselfwith several shopping sprees at Tiffany's. When the ear ended Tiffany did abrisk business in commemorative swords for returning heroes.

After the Civil War Charles Tiffany was ready to outfit America's Gilded Age. "We'll give the customer what we want," proselytized the country's leader in good taste. In 1867 Tiffany's won the first international medal awarded to a United States silver-maker at the Paris Exposition Universelle. Tiffany's would continue to win prizes - and valuable publicity - everywhere its jewelry was exhibited.

In 1870 Tiffany built a new iron store on Union Square. The New York Times hailed the store as "a Jewel Palace...the largest of its kind in the world. A school of taste...a teacher of art progress." Tiffany's now became a museum that incidentally sold its exhibits. A trip to Tiffany's was a must on every rich traveler's New York itinerary.

The gem that attracted more visitors than any other was the Tiffany Diamond. Found in the new Kimberly mines in South Africa in 1877, it was once purchased for $18,000. Tiffany thought it might just be just one of many yellow diamonds found and cut it and held it for years without publicity. But the Tiffany Diamond remains the largest flawless and perfectly colored canary diamond ever mined. It is worth over two million dollars.

Charles Tiffany's biggest problem in the last quarter of the 19th century was finding diamonds, not selling them. Newly discovered mines in South Africa helped but by far the most romantic source was the royal houses of Europe who sold their collections when they became strapped for cash. Tiffany routinely sold $6,000,000 of diamonds a year. At times he could have $40,000,000 in gems in his vaults.

In the 1880s and 1890s a new millionaire could prove his status to his associates merely by sending his wife to a ball, weighed down with enough jewels to cripple a good Sherpa. Tiffany catered to the new money as well as the old.

The store kept seven employees just to get information and photographs on the wealthy in every American city. If someone walked into Tiffany's and his photo and financial status were on file the new customer could take his jewels without payment. "When we give credit to anyone who had supposed himself unknown to us we are sure to retain him forever," said Tiffany.

Charles Tiffany was inexorably linked with the rich and famous of America although he lived comparably simply. He enjoyed nothing more than a hearty walk. When he discovered a new pedometer he added it to his Blue Book. He died in 1902, his life spanning virtually a century, at the age of 90, leaving an estate of $35,000,000. He was planning yet another uptown move for Tiffany's.

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About Me

I am a writer/publisher of guidebooks for hiking with your dog. Once upon a time I wrote a book called SO WHO THE HECK WAS OSCAR MAYER with stories about people we know mostly only as brand names. I find the back stories interesting but I also like to re-visit these posts for their value as inspiring sagas. Time and time again you learn from these folks about the value of putting failure behind you and getting on with it.